Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Midnight Update!


I've noticed that because I update so much on Twitter, I haven't been including much about what I've been up to in my blog entries. Subconsciously I'm trying to avoid being redundant, but I guess there's no shame in redundancy. I mean, after all, it's the internet; it's already redundant!

Here are 12 FACTS about what I've been up to lately:
(in no particular order)

FACT 1: I have been appointed as Vegan Ambassador for Macbeth Footwear. Read about it here, and here. Also, check out some pictures that Ryan Russell took of me here.

FACT 2: I had a "white" x-mas, meaning that huge snow flakes were falling from the sky when I woke up on December 25, 2008. I was in Grass Valley, and in Grass Valley that kind of weather is not unheard of, or undreamt of.

FACT 3: AFI played KROQ's "Almost Acoustic Christmas" on December 13, 2008. On our final song, "Love Like Winter," I mashed my knee up. I have since recovered.

FACT 4: I saw The Cure play at the Troubador on December 13, and at the Gibson Arena on December 14, both 2008. I love The Cure. I finally met Robert.

FACT 5: Hunter Revenge played at Cinespace on December 21, 2008. Since my usual keyboardist, Dan Kelly, was unable to play (due some sort of family reunion), I had, for the first time ever, two keyboardists on stage to replace him. Missed it? Come see Hunter Revenge play Cinespace AGAIN on February 1, 2009. I'll provide more information about this in the future.

FACT 6: I grew a "holiday beard" and eventually shaved that damn thing off. Beards are for Rip Van Winkles.

FACT 7: I did not get engaged. Google it.

FACT 8: I have a new shoe coming out in February, 2009. It's called "The Hunter" and is 100% vegan. It's also 10,000,000% awesome. Take a look at it here before you order 6 pairs. Yes, the shoes are bulletproof. No, I haven't actually tested them against bullets. Would you like to? "For this next trick I'll need a volunteer from the audience..."

FACT 9: While in the studio, working on AFI's eighth studio album, I recorded twelve tracks of bass on a single song. That being said, I feel I must clarify that at most, there are no more than three distinct performances at any given moment in the song. Also, technically three of the tracks are baritone guitar, doubling my bass line. I still think this qualifies me for some type of award. Excessive Bassist of the Year?

FACT 10: Speaking of awards, I was successfully nominated for two Shorty Awards. One of the categories (#awesome) isn't an official category, but still quite awesome. Go vote for me in the other category, #music: http://shortyawards.com/user/TranquilMammoth I need your votes to win! Voting ends January 23, 2009.

FACT 11: Joe Principe (of Rise Against fame) and I are having a conversation right now about how to make bass the "it" instrument for 2009. Kids all over the world should (and will) want to play bass above all other instruments. Ever hear of Bass Hero™? Well maybe somebody will invent that once they catch on to what's happening.

If you're asking yourself, "Where's the 12th fact, Hunter?" then I'm asking you this: Why are you calling yourself Hunter? Is it your name too? (I'll admit that Hunter is a pretty strange name to call yourself, even if it IS your name.) The answer is this: In 2009, numbers don't matter as much as they did in 2008. Think way back to the baker's dozen. I'm not sure what year that was invented, but I can tell you that twelve equalled thirteen that year! Be happy with eleven.

Now quit reading this and go give blood!

43 comments:

vtolegend said...

-i saw your ad in AP magazine, looking cool there!
-facial hair is really annoying! i have to shave every week.
-Almost acoustic christmas was awesome! but i still think they could've done without hollywood undead, then you could've played a longer set
It was my first time seeing AFI live and i wasn't disappointed
And i saw Hunter Revenge at warped.

Jes said...

I actually WASN'T awake when my phone went off, notifying me of your twitter update. Curiousity got the best of me and thus here I am checking out your latest post

ps(I nominated your for a shorty award!)

cheers-
Jes

WitheredRose said...

Nice update. The next step in your carrier will be fitting 13 tracks of bass into one song. But still, I can't wait to hear it!

And I would give blood but I think I'm still too young... =/

Joey said...

Numbers aren't as important this year? Darn. I was pretty impressed by that 10,000,000%, too...

Jes said...

an addtional ps (I also saw your ad in AP and squealed with excitement!)

Cherol said...

Congrats on being Vegan Ambassador, that's a heavy job. I'm sure you can handle it.
I'm a bit disappointed that eleven is the new twelve in 2009 though. One less donut. I'll get over it.

Can't wait for more info on the February 1 show.

girlisgrey said...

Ah Huntaaa, you give me something to read before bed. :)

Roberts was very nice, yeah?

KROQ's performance was amazing. Great teaser until you guys are back.

Nothing about BT? You're tricky ;)

lezah said...

I'm too young to give blood.

If you want to, you can watch this hilarious video of how someone got 10 volunteers from the audience and then proceeded to making them his backup dancers.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=dI7mooJRezE

Congrats on being Vegan Ambassador!

ciel said...

You met Robert? Well now I'm quite envious!

I can't give blood, mkk. SO not gonna happen.

Lori said...

Love Ya, Hunter; You're so damn Intelligent & Funnie! <3 Lori

Caroline said...

Bass Hero would be AH-MAZING! I'd tottaly buy it ^^

Karlye said...

I love those pictures that Ryan Russell took of you!

The Las Vegas/Henderson area almost had a white Christmas, only the snow nymphs failed to actually make it snow at the last minute. Bummer.

Anonymous said...

The Fotos are cool,
and that you're Vegan Ambassador anyway. :D

Esmé Glass said...

Canada Blood Services didn't want my blood. Something about anemia. Whatever.

Also, when you say "Rip Van Winkles" I can only assume that's a typo and you mean "ROBERT Van Winkles". Tell me Vanilla Ice has a beard!!

Only the thought of Vanilla Ice's facial hair is enough to get me over the slight of my blood being rejected.

sadclowndisease said...

Apparently a baker's dozen dates back to the 13th century...


Rock on
<3Roy

Cecilia said...

So right now, at this very second, my friend Amanda is driving from Tucson to Austin. She is moving here, and we met because of AFI.

I think when she gets here we'll stay up all night and listen to Hunter Revenge while we eat blood oranges and/or key lime pie. Doesn't that sound like a wonderful 19th birthday?

Sunder Munich said...

still way excited for that excessive bass track.

i think i saw a new jaguar bass in one of the studio photos a while back, very nice. and have you ever used a Fender Bass VI? i've always wanted to, they look wicked fun.

Anonymous said...

- Glad that you got a white christmas!! It's always fun to have one.
- The engaged thing was super stupid.
- you were wrong on twitter!! I wasn't awake!! xD
- I'll give blood again the next blood drive that comes through town. <3

Anonymous said...

i'm learning how to play bass, but learning to play guitar hero is much easier.. i'm thinking of giving up on the bass.

i can't wait for the shoe! as long as it's black and not hunter green, i'll wear it. not that you care, though..

and honestly, you look really nice with a beard.

Anonymous said...

oh, and in case we don't say it enough.. thank you for all of the blogs and tweets =)

JoeMama said...

I can NOT wait to hear the song where you tracked so many bass tracks. Wow that sounds amazing. I wish we could hear a little snippet of it now.

CAIT said...

Speaking of redundancy, I just found out like 10 minutes ago that my mom is being made redundant :[
Gutted
Ouch poor knee!
I saw Almost Acoustic Christmas on youtube, well Love Is A Many Splendored thing anyway =) You guys were on top form =]

xxx

camilla said...

Jealoussss that you got to meet Robert Smith! Was he a sweetheart?

You should make more midnight updates, they're quite entertaining!

<3

Anonymous said...

Bass is definitely a sexy instrument, and all people with hands should play it.

Anonymous said...

Hmm, Macbeth got me into reading [Shakespeare's] Macbeth, today.

ôO

The Con said...

That's a pretty sexy picture. I hope you win the shortyaward! I voted for you. :]

alayna said...

Really great pictures there! Congrats on becoming ambassador.
Almost Acoustic was great from the videos I've seen, & I'm happy for everyone who was there & involved in it. Wish I could have seen it for myself!
I'm also excited to hear the bass lines in the new AFI. You are right, so far this year, I have been enjoying a lot of songs with heavy bass lines.
& unfortunately I can't give blood. Ever.

PS: Congrats on meeting Robert Smith too!

Cat said...

Ok, why the hell is it snowing in California and not in Maryland? Seriously! It rained on Christmas here which is just lame.
I saw The Cure in May and they were most excellent! They played at least 40 songs.
I am trying to make the ukulele the it instrument for 2009. There is such a thing as a baritone ukulele but there is not much difference between that and a regular guitar.

rarishes said...

I'm glad that they put 'Hunter Burgan' underneath every single picture from the photo shoot. There were a couple that I wasn't 100% certain were of you, but they must have forseen the issue.

MM said...

I liked how in most of the pics you can't see the shoes.

Anonymous said...

I'd buy Bass Hero. I refused to spend any money on anything Guitar Hero related, but I can make an exception for Bass Hero. XD <3

Minx said...

I heard about the Macbeth Vegan Ambassador thing a few days ago I think. Pretty rad.
Glad you had a white x-mas. I can't remember if there was one here. I was sick and had to stay inside from before x-mas until school started up again. I was sad.
I saw the webcast. Pretty awesome. I was freaking out thinking I missed it until I remembered the time-zone difference of 3 hours.
You saw The Cure. Twice in two nights. AND met Robert. Lucky.
I wish I could have gone. Living on the east coast sucks so much now. Being kinda broke most of the time don't help either.
I kinda thought you worked the beard. :D I guess getting it off was a good thing though.
People are so stupid. They really need to check out who is engaged to who before they start putting that stuff out there.
I saw the shoe. I want the shoe. I need to save some money for the shoe.
So many bass tracks. Excessive bassist of the year should go to you. :D
I already voted for you. ^_^ I really hope you win.
Bass should get fame for the year. Actually, it should get fame for more than just this year. I'm going to be learning it soon. :D I would so get Bass Hero if it was made. :D
Poor 12. Probably feels so left out now. Oh well. XD It'll come back eventually. Let 11 have the spotlight as the last number in a dozen for a while. It'll feel special all thanks to you. :D
I wanted to donate blood but sadly I can't. I will one day though as long as I'm not anemic like my mom. That would suck majorly.

Igloos said...

i need to figure out that twitter

skenasis said...

I would donate blood, but at the moment I can't. Australian law dictates that it has to have been at least 12 months since you've gotten a tattoo or piercing. Therein lies the problem.

Anonymous said...

cool i luv that photoshoot though it was all sorts of repetitive
you should just shoot for Mountain Man of the Year award.

Anonymous said...

Bass hero?! That would be an awesome game.
Well done at making some resolutions (better than mine that is), hope you accomplish them!
I also saw you in AP magazine, cool shoes by the way.

-Sora-Chan!!

AFIpunkBOL said...

SOS DE LO MEJOR.^*!^*
ya esperamos con entuciasmo en nuevo disco=D
saludos
bye

impure0purest said...

Yeah Hunter, you can totally shoot me in your shoes, but only if I can keep them afterward. I actually have total faith that they are, in fact, bullet proof.

I also saw your ad in AP. I died. And then I tried to enter the contest, but I'm still not American enough... DAMN YOU AMERICANS AND YOU EXCLUSIVELY AMERICAN CONTESTS!!!

<3

Christy said...

I'm so glad you shaved your beard. Beards are gross. Oh, and careful what you tell people. Some people might be stupid enough to shoot their shoes, maybe even when the shoes are on their feet...

Hannah said...

Hunter-
Bass already is the 'it.' instrument. At least, it is if you are in-the-know. I've been rocking my custom hello-kitty Thunderbird for YEARS.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, my name's Hunter too. Even though I go by MJ. It can be our little secret.

Anonymous said...

pure awesomeness!
i live in ireland and me and my sister got up at 5.00 am to see the KROQ show.... but it changed last minute and we missed you guys... *sadness*

oh well, hopefully you guys will come here next tour! *crosses all possible and crossable limbs*

we dig hunter revenge by the way! muchos cooly!

rEDcookiemontank said...

yay blood donating!

now promote bone marrow donating. cuz if you say its the cool thing to do, that automatically makes the coolest thing around.